Crash After Police Chase Kills 3

An attempt to make a routine drug search of a van on the North Side triggered a wild chase and exchange of gunfire early Monday that ended with the deaths of two of the van's occupants and another motorist in a fiery crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Two other occupants of the van were in serious condition from injuries suffered in the incident. Police continued to try to determine what made the van's driver flee in the first place.

The van led police on a six- to eight-minute chase that involved 20 to 25 squad cars. It wound up heading south in the northbound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway for more than a mile before it struck a compact car head-on and erupted in flames.

Two women in the van and the driver of the car died from burns, their bodies charred, police said. Investigators were planning to attempt to identify them through dental records.

The surviving occupants of the van, which police said was stolen Sunday in south suburban Glenwood, were identified as Richard Garrison, 32, the driver, of the 4700 block of South Ellis Avenue, and Anthony Stillgate, 28, of the 2800 block of Oxford Drive in Markham. Garrison was listed in critical condition at Cook County Hospital, suffering from multiple blunt trauma, a hospital spokesman said. Stillgate was in serious condition with similar injuries, the spokesman said.

The chase began shortly before 1 a.m. when Town Hall district officers responded to a 911 call about narcotics dealing in the Diversey Harbor parking lot. When police approached the van to question the occupants, the vehicle sped south on Stockton Drive, Belmont Area Commander Ernest Hernandez said.

The van turned onto Fullerton Parkway and entered the southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive before attempting to run a police car off the road near North Avenue, Hernandez said.

Just south of Division Street, three gunshots were fired from the van at the pursuing police cars, and one officer returned the fire, he said.

Jumping the median at Pearson Street, the van cut across inner Lake Shore Drive and headed west on Pearson, Hernandez said, blowing one or two tires. Hernandez said it then went south on State Street to Washington Street, west to Halsted Street, and south to Madison Street, where it entered the Ryan going the wrong way.

A mile to the south, the fleeing van crashed into the compact car near Canalport Avenue.

When the van entered the northbound lanes, Hernandez said, it appeared the police cars stopped the direct pursuit and kept pace with the van from the southbound lanes. He said police never exceeded 50 miles per hour during the chase.

"It appears they were acting properly," Hernandez said of the pursuing police.

"We expect them to use discretion and to maintain contact and communications with their supervisor," he said. "All officers are encouraged not to put themselves or any citizen in any danger."

When asked about the propriety of the police actions in the chase, Mayor Richard Daley said the police were blameless while the driver of the van showed "total disregard" for other people.

"If you go down the Dan Ryan the wrong way, you're going to kill somebody . . .," he said.